Effect of Viewing Angle on Luminance and Contrast for a Five-Million-Pixel Monochrome Display and a Nine-Million-Pixel Color Liquid Crystal Display

• Published in: Journal of digital imaging Vol. 17; no. 4; pp. 264 - 270
• Main Authors: Fifadara, Dipesh H., Averbukh, Alice, Channin, David S., Badano, Aldo
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States Springer Nature B.V 01.12.2004; Springer-Verlag
• Subjects: Contrast Sensitivity; Data Display; Fourier Analysis; Humans; Light; Original Paper; Radiographic Image Enhancement; User-Computer Interface
• ISSN: 0897-1889; 1618-727X
• DOI: 10.1007/s10278-004-1021-7

Digital imaging systems used in radiology rely on electronic display devices to present images to human observers. Active-matrix liquid crystal displays (AMLCDs) continue to improve and are beginning to be considered for diagnostic image display. In spite of recent progress, AMLCDs are characterized by a change in luminance and contrast response with changes in viewing direction. In this article, we characterize high pixel density AMLCDs (a five-million-pixel monochrome display and a nine-million-pixel color display) in terms of the effect of viewing angle on their luminance and contrast response. We measured angular luminance profiles using a custom-made computer-controlled goniometric instrument and a conoscopic Fourier-optics instrument. We show the angular luminance response as a function of viewing angle, as well as the departure of the measured contrast from the desired response. Our findings indicate small differences between the five-million-pixel (5 MP) and the nine-million-pixel (9 MP) AMLCDs. The 9 MP shows lower variance in contrast with changes in viewing angle, whereas the 5 MP provides a slightly better GSDF compliance for off-normal viewing.